Derrick Williams finishes a dunk in the second half as the Timberwolves losetheir last home game of the season 96-80 to the Utah Jazz at Target Center in Minneapolis, on Monday, April 15, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Maybe the most encouraging part of the Timberwolves’ season, which ends Wednesday night, April 17, against the Spurs in San Antonio, was the emergence of Derrick Williams, only 21 years old.

With Kevin Love shelved for most of the season, the 6-foot-8, 243-pound Williams has been the Wolves’ top scorer in 14 games this season.

“I’m really happy for myself and my confidence about how I came along during the season,” Williams said after leading the Wolves with 18 points Monday in a 96-80 loss to Utah.

“The first couple weeks of the season, I was really struggling, trying to prove too much instead of just letting the game come to me.”

Williams said this season proved “that I can play in this league. Overall, I think I played a lot better this year. And I can play a lot better, too.”

The topic of trade rumors early in the season, Williams said he wants to remain in Minnesota.

“I like it here,” he said. “The fans are great, and they want to get behind a team that wants to win. That’s the reason we had so many people (17,009 announced at Target Center on Monday) for our last home game even though we’re not in the playoffs. There were so many people here still supporting us even though we were down 15, 18 points. They wanted to see us win. That’s the good thing about this whole city.”

Williams said a healthy Wolves roster “could be scary. We had people out who we needed. But next year, we’ll have Kevin Love, AK (Andrei Kirilenko), Pek (Nikola Pekovic), myself and a few of our other guys who can really do good things on this team.”

However, Williams isn’t the general manager.

“They (management) have to do what they’ve got to do; it’s a business at the same time,” he said. “But we want them all back. I think this team has a good chemistry. I’d be a little disappointed if we didn’t get some of the guys (free agents) back. But it is a business, and it’s up to them and their family situations.”

Williams said the Wolves “definitely” would be a playoff team if healthy.

“At one point we were a five, six seed, two years in a row, until we had those injuries,” he said. “We have a lot of pieces that are real young.”

Williams plans to spend the summer working out with Wolves assistants Bill Bayno in Los Angeles and Shawn Respert in Houston. And he’s committed to working out with teammate Chase Budinger in August in Tucson, Ariz.

The Elite Youth Basketball League Nike tournament in Anaheim, Calif., this weekend that Tyus Jones of Apple Valley and Reid Travis of DeLaSalle will play in for the Howard Pulley Panthers is the same event that drew 247 Division I coaches to Eagan last year.

Besides new Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, coaches Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, John Calipari of Kentucky and Tom Izzo of Michigan State — all of whom are recruiting Jones — are expected to attend.

Robbinsdale Cooper’s Rashad Vaughn — another nationally coveted junior — is expected to play in Anaheim, but with a team from Milwaukee.

The Panthers will play in Hampton, Va., the following weekend. Another EYBL tournament will be held in Eagan on May 24-27 at the High Performance Academy.

Pitino had Minnesota’s top five high school players in for unofficial visits last week: Travis on Thursday, Vaughn on Friday, sophomores Alex Illikainen of Grand Rapids and Jarvis Johnson of DeLaSalle on Saturday, and Jones on Sunday.

A little birdie says Phil Housley, who coached the U.S. Junior National men’s hockey team to a gold medal in the World Championship in Ufa, Russia, in January, will be named an assistant to Joe Sacco for the U.S. National men’s team that competes in the World Championship beginning next month against Austria in Helsinki.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Housley, 49, the former NHL star from South St. Paul, ends up in a coaching capacity with the 2014 U.S. Olympic men’s team in Sochi, Russia. This will be his second stint as an assistant for the U.S. National men’s team.

Vinnie Lettieri, who has committed to the Gophers, scored five goals in two games for Lincoln (Neb.) last weekend and was named the U.S. Hockey League’s forward of the week. Lettieri is the son of former Minnesota Kicks-Strikers goaltender star Tino Lettieri.

The glove with which ex-Twin Ben Revere made a stupendous center-field catch for the Phillies against Cincinnati on Monday night had “Pray for Boston” taped on it in tribute to those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings, Digital First Media reports.

It’s starting to look as if the NHL’s annual Winter Classic outdoor game could be between the Wild and Chicago Blackhawks, perhaps at Target Field in 2015. That would be one year after the Twins host baseball’s All-Star Game.

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